Was science actually stuck during the Middle Ages?

The Middle Ages is a long period between the 5th and the 15th centuries that is, in many
ways, commonly known as the Dark Ages. After a fall of the Roman Empire, many scientists have
completely devoided of interest because at that time science was a tricky subject. Many scientific
beliefs go against the Catholic Church believes and teaches which led to a great debate during the
time.
The Early Medieval period (about 500 to 1000 AD) is the true Dark Ages with a degenerate
advancement in the field of science. Despite the fact that people were feared by the church’s great
influences. We have to admit that the church also feared that scientific research and advancements
would induce the individuals to disrespect the teachings and beliefs of the church which would
debilitate its overall influence. The barbaric wars forced European to spend most of their money on
fighting. As the majority of the money was under the church’s power which can explain why the
money on educational advancement was so little that led the Europeans to be lack of knowledge and
education. Few people realized the importance of new scientific research and medical practices’
developments. Ultimately, the view of science in the area of health sciences has been gradually
altered in the middle and the end of the Middle Ages. During the 9th Century, also known as the
Carolingian Renaissance, a time when Charlemagne tried to reestablish the education as a keystone
of medieval society. Whilst the actual scientific research did not advance much in this period, the
popularity of the studies led to a great improvement to the society toward the end of the Middle
Ages.
Rooting the Greek tradition and knowledge, the medical practice of the Middle Ages were
progressed from the foundation of the Greek’s doctor, ‘Hippocrates’ who is considered as the
‘Father of Medicine.’ Besides that, there is also earnestly practical text that explicates the medical
usages of more than 600 plants. In the 2nd century, Hippocrates’ attributions about his theories have
been integrated and synthesized by ‘Galen’ to a further realization and understanding of the body’s
functions. He also dissected animals and even human’s body to demonstrate the arteries process of
carrying blood rather than air. His theories have a great impact and a wide outspread in western
Europe till the 16th century. During the Early period of the Middle Ages, knowledge about the
anatomy and physiology was in a recession, the religious conception of Christianity was set
superiority over the medical treatment and the actual provenance of the diseases; notwithstanding,
theory of the cardiovascular system that is normally used in our biology class is also originated from
the Galenic theories. The heart diseases have been classically explained and developed from his
observations of animal and human in the dissection process. Moreover, the Arab’s invasion in the
North of Africa beside with the Crusades’ collapsion brought a greater connection of knowledge
between the West and the East, especially the fact that medical science had a tremendous impact on
the perception in concepts and practices that were interwoven. Hospitals, pharmacies, the invention
of eyeglasses, anatomy, and dissection, medical education in the universities, Ophthalmology and
optics, wounds’ cleaning, Cesarean sections, Quarantine, or even Dental Amalgams had been
introduced to our world history and occupied to our technologies and present studies.
Marvelously, there is a great relationship between the two fields of science. The studies of
astrology were prospered due to the translation of the Greek and Arabic writing into Latin. Ancient
documents of Greek doctors have been combined and added with the stars’ circulation, zodiac’s
perspectives and movements, and other fields of astrology. The concepts of astrology in medieval
Europe is based on the ideas of the connection between humankind and its health. The astrologers
were highly respected by people, they believed that many thig happened on earth are the
consequences of the stars’ movements. Doctors have habitually been carrying a special calendar to
check the stars’ positions before performing any diagnosis. This has helped them to answers such
complicated questions of the patients, and that is kind of useful. There was also a law that
necessitates the doctors to calculate the stars before performing complicated treatments, or surgeries.
At present, no more astrology in Western medicine’s procedures, however, the relation between
them still remains in Asia, especially in China and Tibet. It also influences language in term of
words such as ‘Lunatic’ which means a person that is mentally ill, or a very familiar word like
‘Disaster’ with a commonly known meaning of a damaging event also rooted from a combination of
Latin words of ‘dis’ (bad) and ‘aster’ (star).
Many attributions of the ancient world have lied on our bases of cultures and knowledge.
Some may have been gone in time, but some still remain in our society with normally hard to know
the origins.

Chayanan Anu-ekjit (Bam) 1004

Sources:
http://astronomyinthemiddleages.blogspot.com/p/astronomy.html
https://explorable.com/middle-ages-science
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/medm/hd_medm.htm